Day 770: Trump brings back nothing but humiliation from second Kim meeting
Donald Trump agreed to meet with Kim Jong-un in June 2018 for largely opaque reasons. The meeting in Singapore accomplished very little — outside of giving credibility and propaganda to North Korea to be used on state-run TV — but Trump touted it as a massive success anyway. He repeatedly claimed, despite evidence to the contrary, that Pyongyang agreed to denuclearize and the U.S. was safe.
Fast forward eight months and Trump traveled to Hanoi for a second meeting with Kim. Again, the reasons for the meeting were unclear, as diplomats never indicated that any sort of deal was close. Apparently Trump wanted to show up and just see what would happen. (Rather than prepping, Trump spent all three days of Presidents Day weekend at his golf course.)
U.S. intelligence agencies told Trump that Kim was unlikely to ever give up nuclear capabilities, and Trump still had egg on his face from the first summit. Perhaps it was a pipe dream of a Nobel Peace Prize, or a way to change headlines at home, but forward Trump went anyway.
If there was any Hail Mary hope for a deal, it faded quickly.
According to Mr. Trump, the summit came to a sudden and unexpectedly early halt (the table had already been set for the leaders’ now-cancelled formal lunch) because Kim demanded a complete lifting of U.S. sanctions against his regime in exchange for the North Koreans opening up just one key nuclear facility to some degree of inspection.
The Yongbyon Nuclear Research Center has been one of the Kim regimes’ primary nuclear sites. It ostensibly exists to generate nuclear electricity, but houses multiple reactors which could be used to produce the raw materials to make nuclear bombs.
It is not the North Koreans’ only nuclear facility, however.
Trump flew back to Washington on Thursday, tail between his legs again, nothing accomplished.
Yet again, Kim got his photo-op and propaganda.
Bafflingly, during the press conference where Trump announced there would be no deal, Trump defended Kim. Trump said he believed Kim regarding his lack of knowledge about the treatment and subsequent death of American Otto Warmbier.
This is the third autocrat that Trump has defended in the face of common sense and U.S. intelligence.
Warmbier was an American prisoner in North Korea. If a hair on his head was touched, Kim would not only know about it, he’d be the one directing which way move it. To publicly claim that Kim was unaware of Warmbier’s treatment either shows the naivety of a three-year-old or is shockingly sycophantic toward a dictator in the hopes of a miracle deal at some point down the line.
While the about-face is no real surprise, Mike Pence had tough words about North Korea just a year ago.
A year and two meetings later, it’s clearer than ever that Trump won’t stand up to murderous dictatorships.
He’ll abase himself and the nation for them.
770 days in, 692 to go
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